Canadian booze-makers hope U.S. tariff threats help smash trade barriers at
Threats by two premiers to ban U.S alcohol if Washington imposes its threatened 25 per cent tariffs has domestic buyers and sellers calling for a loosening of interprovincial barriers.
B.C. Premier David Eby — like Ontario’s Doug Ford — says he’s willing to stop all American-made alcohol products at the border if the Trump administration tariffs kick in on Saturday.
“If they are not going to abide by our trade agreements then neither are we,” Eby told reporters last week.
But this tough talk has some questioning long-standing protectionism within the country that makes it hard to sell Canadian-crafted wines, brews and spirits between provinces.
“Sometimes it’s harder to move stuff across the provincial border than it is to ship stuff outside of Canada or bring stuff into Canada — which is ridiculous,” said Tyler Dyck, CEO of Okanagan Spirits and president of both the Craft Distillers Guild of B.C and the Canadian Craft Distillers Alliance.
B.C. Premier David Eby threatened to ban U.S. alcohol in the province if President Donald Trump imposes a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods. But Canadian craft distillers say it could be an opportunity to change interprovincial liquor restrictions.
Dyck and others in the alcohol industry — like Wine Growers B.C. — have long advocated for loosening and streamlining the trade rules between provinces. They hope the recent U.S. threat helps cut down interprovincial barriers to get more Canadian-made booze flowing cross-country.
“Maybe this is the time. This is the catalyst for us to look at interprovincial trade,” Dyck told CBC News.
Lots of barriers
There’s a reason you don’t see a lot of Nova Scotian wine in B.C. nor B.C. gin on store shelves in Quebec.
“We just don’t know how to trade among ourselves,” said Sylvain Charlebois, a professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax who researches food distribution.
Charlebois says provinces and territories have bans, restrictions and rules about shipping, storage and labelling — to name just a few things — that make it difficult for individuals and vendors to import alcohol products from out of province. The biggest markets, Ontario and Quebec, he says, have the most restrictive rules to protect their near-monopolies of alcohol distribution.
“There are barriers. Some provinces have actually signed on to open up their markets,” he said, citing Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and a recent pilot program between Alberta and B.C. as examples. “But Central Canada is is not necessarily keen in sharing sharing their customers.”
In her first-ever White House briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said based on her conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump, his plan to slap 25 per cent tariffs on Canada on Feb. 1 is ‘still on the books.’
“It’s…
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